Jennifer Barnes

Barnes Blog

All posts by Jennifer Barnes

How to use the manufacturing community to offset labor shortage.

With the relatively reduced price of machine tools and fabrication techniques, many businesses brought their manufacturing work in-plant. It was easier to keep control of your inventory if it was right there in the plant. However, we are now suffering from a shortage of trained technical labor. So how do you deal with looming deadlines and not enough workers to make your products?

Knowing what you do best, and who is best at the other things.

Barnes manufacturing recruits and trains employees to provide high-quality machining, fabrication, and painting. However, we can’t do it all. That is why we have made sure to embrace the manufacturing community here in the Midwest. Through our network, we are able to quickly outsource the work that does not fit into our shop and maintain excellent employees that are highly skilled and kept busy in the areas that we specialize in. That way, we can better serve customers by managing the product from the beginning and are able to deliver a finished product. This means that the project managers and buyers that we work for do not have to spend their precious time searching for the right vendors and managing the shipping back and forth.

Manufacturing community.

Iowa is a hub of manufacturing. It is the second largest industry in our state. With so many other shops in our area, some would assume that the competition is fierce. While there is some competition, mostly there is comradery. We all have things we excel at, while others have their things. At Barnes, we maintain communication with many other shops and are able to share work with them when needed to meet a delivery. They do the same for us. This network enables Barnes Manufacturing to meet the ever-changing production needs of our customers.

Barnes manufacturing

If you want to join our community of vendors and manufacturers, contact us. We can give you a quote on your project and help you manage your labor needs. To reach out to us use our contact form, give us a call, email, or connect on LinkedIn and Facebook to discuss working with us on your project.

There is never enough time or money. In the manufacturing world, it seems like we are always trying to find more of both. However, often steps are missed early on in the design process that could help save time and money in the future.

Barnes Manufacturing has worked with many businesses to streamline their designs to increase manufacturability. It could be as simple as choosing a more readily available material. We have also helped companies plan for future repair by designing projects with wear parts that are easier to fix in the field.

Scott Owen designing a project for a customer.

Coating is an area that is often a burden for designers and engineers. Trying to decide what will last longer over time, or what coating is the most cost effective can be a time-consuming task. Whether you want powder coating, metalizing, two-part epoxy, or straight out wet coat paint, we can talk you through the options.

Metalizing parts for a customer to ensure they last longer and withstand the elements.

Working with manufacturer early in the design process can save production time, material costs, installation time, and longevity of the part. We are very familiar with the vendors and manufacturers in the area and can help design your project with efficiency and manufacturability in mind.

This is especially true in prototype design when little improvements can make a huge difference in the production success of a new venture. For more information on how we can help you with your prototype, check out our prototype page.

If you are engineering a manufacturing project, use the form on this page, give us a call, email, or connect on LinkedIn and Facebook to discuss working with us on your project.

Like many people, our weekends are busy, especially in the summer. Between reunions, birthdays, vacations, and friends visiting, we also have to tackle the yard work and grass that never slows down in Iowa. Weekends are for friends and family, of course with a family business, sometimes the weekends are for work as well. Our customers and vendors become our friends, and like all of our friends, sometimes they call needing help in a hurry.

One weekend this summer was no exception, a company we have enjoyed working with called. They were working on installing a large piece of equipment and a large gearbox was machined too tight to fit on the driveshaft. Of course, they had a team of international investors and installers on site and could not wait until Monday to get it fixed, the expenses were piling up by the hour!

Part of the manufacturing community.

We had not done the original machining, but they knew we were in the area and could help. As part of the manufacturing community, we know these things happen all of the time. We try to be prepared and plan for problems, but we never truly know what will come up. Therefore we are empathetic to our fellow manufacturers when emergencies arise. A few calls were made between our team and other manufacturers in the area and we were able to get the part machined correctly with 36 hours.

Working together to get it done

Tom and Bob took turns working on the part and driving it across town, in between birthday parties and planned outings. It made for a busy weekend, but everyone worked together to get done what needed to get done. We are proud of our Iowa manufacturing community and our role in it.

If you want to learn more about how Barnes manufacturing can partner with you to get your work done or more about the amazing manufacturing community in Iowa. To reach out to us use the form on this page, give us a call, email, or connect on LinkedIn and Facebook to discuss working with us on your project.